McCarty Farms

Background

In the sweeping plains of Kansas, Nebraska, and Ohio, McCarty Dairy operates a multi-location farm and processing plant that handles over 1.2 million gallons of milk daily. Built on four generations of dairy farming, the McCarty brothers moved west from Pennsylvania more than a decade ago, choosing to expand operations in areas with ample land and agricultural opportunities. What began as one family’s commitment to responsible, high-quality milk production has evolved into a modern agricultural enterprise—complete with its own processing facility, non-GMO crop management, and advanced data-driven techniques.

At the heart of McCarty Dairy’s evolution is technology. From a cloud-based feed management system to a pipeline of connected tractors and environmental controls, the farm leverages real-time data to optimize every facet of daily operations. To support this interconnected approach, McCarty Dairy has standardized on a robust network infrastructure—adopting cost-effective, user-friendly hardware solutions that handle everything from remote barns to office networks. According to Brett Bandy, the farm’s IT Director, “When you’re managing seven locations across three states with 24/7 operations, a solid network isn’t a luxury—it’s critical to our success.”

Business Objectives

1. Streamlined Feed & Crop Management With cattle across multiple locations, McCarty Dairy needed a system that allowed real-time oversight of feed rations, animal health, and daily output. Their existing manual processes were time-consuming and prone to error. They sought a cloud-based solution that would distribute live data to tractors and feeding equipment—ensuring optimum nutrition mixes and reducing feed waste.
2. 24/7 Reliability & Scalability Dairy operations run nonstop. Equipment failure or network downtime could disrupt milking schedules, feeding intervals, and essential environmental controls. The company required hardware that could withstand agricultural conditions, scale alongside expansions, and minimize downtime—especially in remote barns with harsh weather or spotty connectivity.
3. Integrated Farm IoT Beyond basic internet connectivity, McCarty Dairy wanted to tie in thousands of sensors—from barn fans regulating temperature to potential JDLink tractor telematics. Linking these devices to a centralized dashboard would allow technicians and managers to detect issues, fine-tune environmental conditions, and ensure animal comfort across multiple sites.
4. Cost-Effective Growth McCarty Dairy continuously expands capacity—building new barns, adding new fields, and acquiring additional land. They needed networking solutions that remained budget-friendly, offered flexible form factors, and didn’t lock them into expensive licensing fees or forced forklift upgrades. Minimal overhead would free capital for expansions and animal welfare programs.
5. User-Friendly Administration With a small IT team covering hundreds of access points, switches, and farm IoT devices, the infrastructure had to be straightforward enough that non-network-engineers could swap out hardware or troubleshoot basic issues. High-level tasks—like adopting devices, setting up VLANs, or tracking downtime—needed to be centralized and intuitive.

High-Tech Farming in Action

Feed Management & Real-Time Data One of the most transformative changes at McCarty Dairy was adopting a cloud-based feed management program called OneFeed. Instead of paper logs or guesswork, tractor operators now use ruggedized tablets, providing real-time instructions on mixing, portion sizes, and distribution routes:

• Automated Rations: Each ration is specified by a nutritionist. Operators follow on-tablet recipes to weigh the exact combination of feed and supplements.

• Live Updates: If weather or herd health metrics suggest adjusting feed ratios, managers push changes instantly to the field. Tractor drivers see updated info without returning to a central office.

• Data for Profitability: Over- or under-feeding can directly impact production costs and overall milk yield. By continuously logging feed usage and consumption patterns, the system drives efficiency—shaving expenses and boosting output daily.

Electric & Automated Tractors McCarty Dairy also uses Monarch electric tractors, a newer breed of farming equipment engineered for precision tasks like feed pushing. While not fully automated yet, these tractors collect telematics data that eventually feed into analytics for routes, battery usage, and potential future autonomy. “We’re still learning how to optimize their routes,” says Brett, “but we believe electric tractors could cut our diesel costs and carbon footprint over time.”

Some fields also contain John Deere (JD) equipment that can run JDLink telematics. Although McCarty Dairy hasn’t fully deployed JDLink across its fleet, partial use cases already exist for remote diagnostics and performance monitoring. The farm’s network ensures these systems can connect to the cloud or corporate data centers without manual uploads or incomplete data captures.

IoT Sensors & Environmental Controls A comfortable cow is a productive cow. At the newest facility in Rexford, upwards of a thousand barn fans integrate with sensors to maintain optimal temperatures. Each fan is an IoT device, connecting wirelessly to subcontrollers that feed data into central dashboards:

• Temperature & Humidity Readings: If a barn’s temperature spikes beyond thresholds, the fans automatically adjust speeds, and an alert pings the main office.

• Animal Tracking: McCarty Dairy partners with third-party parlor systems that tag each cow with RF or Bluetooth trackers. This data flows through the network, helping vets and managers spot potential health issues early.

• Predictive Maintenance: Early warnings on failing fans or motors let teams schedule repairs before a major breakdown disrupts herd comfort.

The Network as the Backbone

Diversity of Connectivity With seven locations spread across three states, fiber lines serve main offices and production areas where available, while wireless point-to-point (UISP) links cover remote structures like maintenance barns or silage pits. Redundant links—some even using Gigabeam—provide backup paths when a single line goes down. This is critical given the 24/7 nature of milking and feeding:

• Fiber for HQ & Processing Plants: Bulk data moves swiftly among the main sites, ensuring stable video conferencing, data backups, and feed-software updates.

• Wireless for Outer Buildings: By using NanoStation AC or Rocket AC gear, the farm can skip trenching fiber and still get multi-hundred-megabit speeds in places that only require moderate bandwidth.

Flex Switches in Barns In large free-stall barns—some stretching over 1,000 feet—power availability is limited, and dusty conditions can be harsh. UniFi Flex Switches powered from a single PoE-run reduce the need for local electrical wiring:

• Reduced Wiring Costs: Just two PoE lines from a main switch can feed multiple APs in the barn, cutting both complexity and potential electrical risk.

• Simplicity for Field Repairs: If a switch fails, a farmhand can replace it with an identical device, adopt it in the management console, and be back online quickly.

Centralized Cloud Management McCarty Dairy’s staff uses UniFi’s Site Manager and UISP for real-time visibility. Whether they’re checking an AP in Nebraska or diagnosing a point-to-multipoint link in Kansas, a single dashboard shows statuses, performance metrics, and notifications. Jeremy, an external contractor, finds it invaluable:

Results & Impact

• Zero-Licensing Scalability: Switching from older solutions to UniFi allowed McCarty Dairy to deploy up to 200+ switches and APs, plus UISP gear, without recurring software fees. Savings re-invest in expansions rather than monthly bills.

• Better Operational Efficiency: Thanks to feed management tablets, sensors, and stable Wi-Fi, employees gather real-time data. Over- or under-feeding has dropped, and staff can address barn climate issues before they escalate—ultimately increasing yield and reducing waste.

• Reliable Connectivity in Challenging Environments: Even in dusty stalls or remote outbuildings, robust PoE switches and easy-to-adopt APs sustain dependable connections. Livestock tracking, feed deliveries, and daily milking logs now flow digitally without constant connection hiccups.

• Easier Administration & Faster Rollouts: Brett’s team spent eight years evolving from a tiny 3-switch network to a multi-state system supporting nearly 250 devices. The straightforward nature of UniFi’s adoption and monitoring tools means expansions rarely require specialized network engineers.

Looking Ahead

Further Automations & Access Control With automated tractors on the horizon, McCarty Dairy envisions deeper integration of driverless routes. More barns will incorporate cameras and potential door access solutions, tying into a unified management console—reducing the daily burden on staff.

Protect & Access for Smaller Sites As UniFi Protect and Access scale up, the farm hopes to standardize on a single ecosystem for cameras and entry control. Smaller satellite locations will gain local NVRs or cloud-based vantage points, enabling centralized alerts if sensors detect intruders or equipment malfunctions.

Revisiting Gateway Choices Having previously used Dream Machine Pros, the farm now contracts third-party firewalls as part of a security arrangement. Once that ends, they’re considering Enterprise Fortress Gateways to unify firewall tasks and intrusion prevention under the same user-friendly dashboard.

Conclusion

For McCarty Dairy, a modern farm is more than just soil, cattle, and milking parlors. It’s a data-driven engine, reliant on stable networks to coordinate feed, track herd health, manage environmental systems, and deliver everyday internet for staff. By adopting a multi-layered approach—fiber for high-bandwidth areas, wireless for remote barns, and PoE solutions to simplify expansions—they’ve transformed a conventional dairy farm into a connected agricultural hub.

From 1.2 million gallons of milk daily to thousands of fans regulating temperature, everything depends on a reliable backbone that’s easy to deploy, cost-effective, and ready for future tech. As new tractors become autonomous, and feed management systems grow ever more sophisticated, the network remains the unseen hero—turning raw data into actionable insights, ensuring the dairy’s long-standing mission of productivity, innovation, and quality stands firm across all seven locations.